Opinion

The Williston Youth Athletic Association is a nonprofit, volunteer run organization designed to provide a recreational sports program to the youth of the community. The WYAA has been providing sports programs to the community for many years. The WYAA has had a long standing relationship with the city of Williston. That relationship has contributed to the success and longevity of the programs. The WYAA averages 350 to 400 participants each season.

Words cannot begin to express the heartfelt thanks and deep appreciation I feel toward you and your generous, caring staff.

Our 2009 safety patrol trip to Washington went off without a hitch! It was perfect! Yes, we had fabulous parental and staff support, but their job was to chaperone our patrols, who, I am proud to say, were most enthusiastic and well-behaved throughout the entire trip.

Headlines from every corner of the nation and our state are unanimous in their message… the government bank account is running dry and the cupboard is bare. Florida counties and municipalities report that jobs are on the chopping block, others will see wage freezes, services are being cut and in some cases taxes will rise. Levy County is no different. The “Great Recession” may be on our doorstep.

You may well be wondering what a corporatocracy is. Officially it is not a word that appears in any popular dictionary. The word itself is a neologism, a recently coined word that is commonly used but hasn't become mainstream. Every day new words enter our language through books, magazines and newspapers. The Internet (that word was once a neologism as well) has quickly become the most popular venue for new thoughts, ideas and words entering the public domain.

As we enter the dog days of summer, people will be out enduring our famous heat and our abundant resources available to them; North Central Florida is a great place to be. Whether you’re on a farm handpicking blueberries for pies, cooking steaks on the grill or enjoying watermelon on the river with family and friends, this area provides us with so many great homegrown options to fill our summer time. During these times the agriculture industry can easily be taken for granted by those not directly involved in it.

Each month, volunteer pilots from Angel Flight Southeast fly patients needing specialized medical care, including chemotherapy and dialysis, to hospitals throughout Florida. Many of these patients are from rural areas and would otherwise be hard-pressed to receive the care they need.

You may have seen the signs up “NO BLAST NO DUST” around our neighborhood in Montbrook and on East Levy Street. We are very much against the blasting mine Mr. Vanderwey would like to see placed here. Mr. Vanderwey hasn’t given up on his idea of a lime rock blasting mine in Williston. While he hasn’t gone before the Board of Commissioners (BOC) yet, he is still working on getting his paperwork in order to proceed in hopes of getting approval from the board.

When the press release came over last week, Iee^immediately put it on my calendar of things to do Saturday. “Moonlight and Music” it read. What could be better? Iee^thought.

It was raining at my house, but just a brief drizzle so I was almost sure it wouldn’t be cancelled. ee^I was correct, although when I arrived at Williston Rehab, there was no one out enjoying the moonlight.

As a child of the 50s, I am part of the generation that saw humans fly into space and came to believe that if we applied ourselves to a problem it could be solved — especially if we applied ourselves to science, engineering and math.

The news that the Soviets (remember them?) had put a man into space sent us into a frenzy.

We watched President Kennedy’s challenge to reach the moon in 10 years.

I remember the nuns hustling us out of class one day to look up at the sky for a “really tiny reflection of light.”

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 is a bill in Congress designed to help move the United States off of its dependency on petroleum products by rewarding folks—corporations, companies and communities—who develop and sell alternatives while demanding that the industries using or selling oil-based products—such as utilities and auto-makers—adhere to a program reducing its use over the next four decades.

Jon Ebersole of Oak Park, Ill. feels as if he has been preparing for his current career and job his entire life.

“I was raised a Mennonite, which is a very service-oriented faith,” said 48-year-old Ebersole in a telephone interview. “When in college, I was the ‘big brother’ for a kid in a tough situation involved with state services. I believe alcohol and emotional abuse existed in his family.”

I would like to respond to the article titled "The Truth about Exotic Animals". To myself and many others this matter of what is being referred to as "Exotic Animals" (I call Wild Untamed Meat Eating Cats) in a residential area is a real and possible danger to all concerned and not to be taken lightly at all.

On May 29, 2009 two cities, Williston and Dunnellon, united in a mutual partnership to protect one of Florida’s special natural resources, Rainbow Springs. It was stated that two of the major threats to the springs are water quantity and quality. Williston and East Levy County, which lie in the Rainbow River Springshed, provide a necessary water supply function (surface and ground water recharge) to areas south of the county, i.e. Rainbow Springs in Dunnellon.